RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 3, No. 68, Part II, 8 April 1999

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 3, No. 68, Part II, 8 April 1999
A daily report of developments in Eastern and
Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central
Asia prepared by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty.
This is Part II, a compilation of news concerning
Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Part I
covers Russia, Transcaucasia and Central Asia and is
distributed simultaneously as a second document. Back
issues of RFE/RL NewsLine and the OMRI Daily Digest are
online at RFE/RL's Web site:
http://www.rferl.org/newsline
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Headlines, Part II
* UNHCR: 10,000 REFUGEES 'DISAPPEAR'
* DJUKANOVIC: 'PEACE IS NEAR'
* LUKASHENKA LASHES OUT AT EVERYONE
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EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE
LUKASHENKA LASHES OUT AT WEST FOR 'SLANDERING' HIS
RULE... Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka
delivered a more than two-hour televised address to the
National Assembly on 7 April in the presence of several
invited Western diplomats. Lukashenka blamed Western
envoys for misinforming their countries about the actual
situation in Belarus and for "slandering" his rule. He
accused the West of financing the opposition's
alternative presidential elections, saying that the
opposition is buying "not only Xerox copiers and paper
for their leaflets, but weapons as well. Leave the
Belarusian people in peace! Stop this pressure!...For
your movements in neighboring Poland and Lithuania you
will get what you deserve--we are not in Yugoslavia," he
told the diplomats, departing from his written speech.
JM
...IMF FOR NOT GIVING CREDITS... Lukashenka told his
legislature that Belarus is the only country in the
post-Soviet area that the IMF has not given "a single
dollar [or even] a single cent" in credits because of
political motives. According to him, international
financial organizations do not want to cooperate with
Belarus because they do not like the fact that it has
not become a "sanitary cordon between Russia and the
West. We will survive without external assistance. Yes,
we are poor but not on our knees. Our force is in unity,
cohesion, in ideological values of ordinary people, not
of businessmen," the Belarusian president said. JM
...RUSSIA FOR UNWILLINGNESS TO UNITE... Lukashenka
accused Russia of being unwilling to seek a serious
unification with Belarus. He said Minsk has already
prepared a "cardinal draft treaty" on the creation of a
unified Belarusian-Russian state, while Russia is
proposing to sign only a "protocol of intent." He said
"Enough of just striving. If we are going to create a
single state, let's do it. If not, we should say flatly
that we are not going to do it." He added that the
Belarusian-Russian union is opposed not only by global
forces that are "afraid of Slavic unity," but also by
some circles in Russia, which he did not identify. JM
...AND BLAMES CABINET FOR ECONOMIC WOES. Reporting on
Belarus's economic achievements in 1998, Lukashenka said
that "several key macroeconomic parameters"
significantly worsened, particularly in the second half
of the year. "The change of the situation on foreign
markets, primarily in Russia, had a negative impact," he
commented. Lukashenka slammed the cabinet for failing to
regulate production between state-run enterprises and to
control pricing. He said the main economic task in 1999
is to increase industrial output by 4-5 percent. He
pledged that requirements with regard to political and
business leaders will be even tougher than before and
threatened imprisonment for those disobeying his orders.
JM
KUCHMA URGES MILOSEVIC TO WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM KOSOVA.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has welcomed the
cease-fire call by Belgrade and urged Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw Serbian army and police
units from Kosova and allow the return of Albanian
refugees. "I have reasons to believe that this step
would fully terminate all military actions and would
bring the warring sides back to the negotiating table,"
Kuchma said in a statement released on 7 April. The
Foreign Ministry said the same day Ukraine has
dispatched a convoy of trucks with humanitarian aid--
including tents, blankets, soap, and medicines--to
displaced Albanians in Macedonia. JM
UKRAINE CLAIMS TO LOSE $330,000 EVERY DAY DUE TO NATO
STRIKES. Andriy Veselovskyy, an official in the Foreign
Ministry, said on 6 April that Ukraine is losing
$330,000 every day owing to the disrupted navigation on
the Danube River after NATO bombed bridges in Novi Sad.
According to Veselovskyy, those guilty of disrupting the
navigation should compensate the countries incurring
heavy losses because they can't use the Danube. Ukraine
has called for an urgent meeting of the signatories of
the Danube convention in Budapest to discuss the issue.
JM
ESTONIA CONCLUDES WTO ENTRY TALKS... Estonia on 7 April
wrapped up negotiations on its accession to the World
Trade Organization, ETA reported, citing the Foreign
Ministry press service. By 31 October, the Estonian
parliament must adopt or amend 21 legislative acts in
order to bring the country's legislation in line with
WTO norms. The parliament must also ratify all
agreements with the organization. Tallinn began
accession talks with the WTO in 1995. Latvia was the
first of the Baltic states to become a member of the
organization. JC
...REGISTERS NEW RECORD FOREIGN INVESTMENT. Citing data
released by the Bank of Estonia, "Diena" reported on 8
April that direct foreign investment in Estonia last
year reached a record high of 7.94 billion kroons (some
$548 million). This represents a more than twofold
increase over 1997, when direct foreign investment
totaled some 3.69 billion kroons. According to the
daily, 49 percent of the total foreign investment last
year was in the banking sector (with Swedish investors
playing a major role) and 20 percent in industry. JC
LATVIA'S NEW PARTY WANTS MAJORITY GOVERNMENT. The junior
coalition member New Party is to hand a letter to Prime
Minister Vilis Kristopans requesting a meeting to
discuss the formation of a "stable majority government,"
"Diena" reported on 8 April. The party is also urging
that the "expediency" of two government posts--deputy
premier for EU integration and "special task minister"
for cooperation with international financial
institutions, both of which are held by members of the
coalition Fatherland and Freedom party--be examined. The
ruling coalition has 46 seats in the 100-member
parliament. Earlier this year, Kristopans concluded a
cooperation agreement with the Social Democrats, which
have 14 seats. The Fatherland and Freedom party,
however, is opposed to the Social Democrats becoming a
coalition partner. JC
LITHUANIA LIFTS CONTROVERSIAL REGULATION ON ESTONIAN,
LATVIAN IMPORTS. The Lithuanian government has announced
that beginning 15 April it will lift the regulation
stipulating minimum prices for imports of agricultural
goods from Estonia and Latvia, Baltic agencies reported
on 7 April. The government took that decision following
a meeting of the joint committee overseeing the
implementation of the Baltic Free Trade Agreement. Both
Estonia and Latvia had strongly criticized the
introduction of the minimum prices. JC
POLISH WEAPON PLANT WORKERS DEMAND STATE ORDERS, BACK
WAGES. Some 200 workers of the Lucznik weapons factory
in Radom picketed the Treasury and Economy Ministries in
Warsaw on 7 April, throwing firecrackers and demanding
payment of February and March wages and more state
orders for their products. In particular, Lucznik's
4,000-strong crew wants the government to order 15,000
rifles that can meet NATO military standards. "If our
troops had to participate in a military intervention, it
would turn out that they do not have weapons meeting the
alliance's standards. We can produce such weapons,"
Lucznik's Solidarity trade union head told the 8 April
"Rzeczpospolita." On 6 April, some 1,000 Lucznik workers
blocked two main roads in Radom with the same demands.
JM
CZECH AMBASSADOR TO NATO WORRIED ABOUT RUGOVA. Karel
Kovanda told CTK in Brussels on 7 April that the fate of
Kosovar Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova aroused
"considerable anxiety" in NATO because his stay under
"the protection" of Yugoslav police was "suspicious," as
he "represents the wise side of the Kosova Albanians"
and "whether he wants it or not, he is [Yugoslav
President Slobodan] Milosevic's hostage." Milosevic's
unilateral cease-fire declaration and the agreement
allegedly signed with Rugova will not prevent NATO from
continuing its strikes against Yugoslav targets, Kovanda
said. Foreign Minister Jan Kavan said on the same day
that his country could accept between 2,000-5,000
Kosovar refugees. MS
MECIAR'S PARTY CALLS FOR RECONSIDERATION OF NATO
OVERFLIGHT PERMISSION... The opposition Movement for a
Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) wants the cabinet of Premier
Mikulas Dzurinda to reconsider its decision to allow
NATO planes to overfly Slovakia, HZDS spokesman Marian
Kardos said in a statement given to CTK on 7 April. The
HZDS says the permission violates the country's
constitution and "fails to respect the opinion of most
Slovaks." On the same day, the parliament started
debates on lifting the parliamentary immunity of HZDS
deputy and former Slovak Counter-Intelligence Service
chief Ivan Lexa, who is suspected of involvement in the
abduction of former President Michal Kovac's son in 1995
and several other violations of the law. HZDS members
demonstrated outside the parliament in what CTK, quoting
one of them, said was a demonstration "both for Lexa and
against the planes." MS
...WHILE MINISTERS DISAGREE WITH DECISION. Agriculture
Minister Pavol Koncos abstained once again during a
government vote on 5 April to grant NATO "unlimited
access" to Slovak air space (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1
and 7 April 1999). Ministers representing parties other
than Koncos' Party of the Democratic Left (SDL) also
abstained, CTK reported on 7 April. From among SDL
ministers, only Defense Minister Pavol Kanis voted in
favor of granting NATO such permission. MS
HUNGARY'S PREMIER ON MAGYAR MINORITY IN VOJVODINA. As a
neighbor of Yugoslavia, Hungary cannot set quotas on
refugees, Premier Viktor Orban told visiting Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on 7 April. Orban noted
that the Vojvodina Hungarians, "the only ethnic minority
in Serbia that did not have serious conflicts with
authorities," were "safeguarded" by Hungary's NATO
membership, Hungarian media reported. But Jozsef Kasza,
a leader of Vojvodina Hungarians, is cited by AFP on 8
April as saying that Orban's supportive statements of
NATO air strikes are "irresponsible and
incomprehensible." Kasza said "Hungary should fulfill
its NATO obligations...without sacrificing the Vojvodina
Hungarians." In response to the recent violation of
Hungarian air space by two Yugoslav planes, the
parliament's Defense Committee on 7 April approved a
Defense Ministry request to immediately procure weapons
worth 2 billion forints ($8.7 million) to improve
Hungary's defense system. MSZ/MS
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
UNHCR: 10,000 REFUGEES 'DISAPPEAR.' Macedonian
authorities dispersed at least 35,000 Kosovar refugees
from the Blace border-area refugee camp to other parts
of Macedonia on 7 April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 April
1999). "The operation, unannounced and executed...under
the cover of darkness, was chaotic, even brutal," the
"International Herald Tribune" wrote. The expulsion took
place in such haste that many refugees left their meager
personal possessions behind. A spokeswoman for the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that
"some 10,000 refugees are still unaccounted for" as of
the morning of 8 April, Reuters reported. The UNHCR is
looking into accounts that some refugees were forced
onto buses that took them to Albania, Greece, or Turkey.
A Macedonian Foreign Ministry spokesman denied that
there is any mystery surrounding the refugees. "Maybe
half of them are deployed in different places inside
Macedonia...and around 7,000-8,000 persons...were
transported by buses to Albania because the Albanian
government announced that they are willing to accept
these refugees," he added. PM
MACEDONIA EXPELS SOME REFUGEES TO ALBANIA. Over 10,000
Kosovar Albanian refugees from Macedonia arrived in the
Korca area of southeastern Albania on 7 April. An OSCE
spokesman in Tirana told Reuters that local people
accommodated half of them immediately and that 38
required hospital treatment on arrival. The authorities
housed others in a sports stadium. ATSH quoted refugees
from Blace as saying that Macedonian police forced them
to board buses and maltreated them with batons, and that
many children were forcefully separated from their
parents. Albania now accommodates some 300,000 refugees.
Meanwhile in Luxembourg, EU interior ministers agreed to
concentrate efforts at refugee relief on Albania,
Macedonia, and Montenegro. The ministers opposed
relocating refugees out of the region, the "Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote. FS
YUGOSLAVIA CLOSES BORDER TO ALBANIA. Yugoslav
authorities closed the border crossing from Kosova into
Albania at Morina near Kukes on 7 April, thereby halting
the flow of refugees. Albanian border guards told
Reuters that only 26 people crossed through that day,
saying that Serbian soldiers had ordered them from their
homes only a few hours before. Several Roma said they
traveled more than 21 miles and saw only Serbian police
and soldiers every 100 yards along the main road. One of
them stressed that "we didn't see anything else: no
people and no cars." An OSCE spokesman in Tirana said
that Serbian soldiers have been telling Kosova refugees
it was safe for them to go home because of a unilateral
cease-fire declared by Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic for Orthodox Easter. FS
SERBIAN FORCES PREPARE DEFENSES. Yugoslav soldiers
planted land mines and dug defensive positions along the
Albanian border on 7 April, AP reported. The news agency
added that this means the Serbian forces are preparing
combat and trying to create a depopulated buffer zone.
Serbian forces also mined border crossings with
Macedonia and dispersed waiting displaced persons back
into the devastated interior of Kosova, RFE/RL's South
Slavic Service reported. FS
SOLANA SEES 'SIGN OF WEAKNESS' IN BELGRADE. Following
another night of air strikes against Serbian targets,
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana told a French radio
station on 8 April that "we must interpret some
[unspecified] Serbian movements as a sign of weakness in
the regime...Milosevic, in time, is going to disappear
from the political scene in a very clear way," Solana
concluded. PM
DJUKANOVIC: 'PEACE IS NEAR.' Montenegrin President Milo
Djukanovic told the Italian daily "Corriere della Sera"
of 8 April: "I'm optimistic -- peace is near, you can
already detect it, it's even a certainty. It could even
be a question of 10 days...It's important that someone
in Belgrade has already started thinking about peace.
Every peace proposal must be taken with political and
diplomatic wisdom. It mustn't be suffocated: it will
bear some fruit," Djukanovic said. The day before, he
told a French television station that Milosevic has been
trying to overthrow him ever since he was elected in
1997. He called on NATO to stop bombing but stressed
that Milosevic should himself help end the bombing by
accepting NATO demands, AFP reported. In Podgorica, a
spokeswoman for the Information Ministry noted that
Yugoslav troops have recently harassed or detained
several Western journalists in Montenegro. She described
the situation as "very, very difficult" and urged
foreign journalists to travel only with a Montenegrin
police escort. PM
CANADA URGES CONSIDERATION OF GROUND TROOPS. Defense
Minister Art Eggleston called on the Atlantic alliance
on 7 April to "look at options" other than sending
ground troops into Kosova only with Serbian consent and
to protect civilians. This is the first time that a key
official of a NATO-member country has publicly suggested
that the alliance consider sending in ground troops.
Sweden's Carl Bildt, who became the international
community's chief civilian administrator in Bosnia in
1996, told the BBC that NATO will have to send ground
troops to the troubled province sooner or later. In
Washington, AP quoted former President Gerald Ford, who
does not often comment on Balkan affairs, as saying that
NATO will have to send in ground forces if it intends to
win. PM
FRENCH JOURNALISTS REPORT FROM KOSOVA. Four radio and
print journalists from France arrived in Kosova on 7
April under the protection of the Kosova Liberation Army
(UCK). The four noted that NATO air strikes have
severely hampered the "Serbs in getting from one point
to another." The poorly armed UCK helps NATO identify
Serbian military targets via satellite telephone, AP
quoted the journalists as saying. They added that the
UCK lacks equipment but not recruits, especially from
Peja. Members of the UCK told the French that the
guerrillas do not need foreign ground troops but only
weapons. The Serbian authorities expelled all foreign
journalists from Kosova at the start of the ethnic
cleansing campaign in March. PM
'DEAD' JOURNALIST GIVES INTERVIEW. Baton Haxhiu, who is
the editor-in-chief of the banned Prishtina daily "Koha
Ditore" and whom NATO reported dead in March, recently
arrived in Macedonia. He had spent some days hiding in
Prishtina and then joined the columns of refugees
fleeing southward. He told Reuters in London on 8 April
that the Serbian forces systematically destroyed
Albanian-owned properties and businesses in Prishtina.
En route to Macedonia, "Serbian police and
paramilitaries would come to the queue of cars at night
and rob people and take the attractive girls and women
off with them. It was a terrible scene." Haxhiu added
that he does not know how the report of his death
emerged, but suggested that police may have stopped
looking for him when they thought he was dead. The
whereabouts of many prominent Kosovars remain unknown,
including Adem Demaci and Veton Surroi. PM
ANNAN BLASTS SERBIAN 'GENOCIDE.' UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan told the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva
on 7 April that "of all gross violations, genocide knows
no parallel in human history. Though we have no
independent observers on the ground, the signs are that
it may be happening, once more...The vicious and
systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing conducted by the
Serbian authorities in [Kosova] appears to have one aim:
to expel or kill as many ethnic Albanians as possible,
thereby denying a people their most basic rights to
life, liberty, and security." The secretary general
stressed that "if we allow the United Nations to become
the refuge of the 'ethnic cleanser' or the mass
murderer, we will betray the very ideals that inspired
the founding of the United Nations." PM
CHIRAC: 'JUSTICE MUST PREVAIL.' French President Jacques
Chirac said in Paris on 7 April that "justice must
prevail" in Serbia and "savagery must not have the last
word," the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote. He
warned that "criminals will have to answer for their
deeds." Chirac referred to "Milosevic" and not
"President Milosevic" in his remarks. Meanwhile in
Washington, the State Department published a list of
nine Yugoslav army commanders who could find themselves
liable for prosecution for war crimes because they
failed to prevent their subordinates from committing
atrocities, a State Department spokesman said. PM
ROMANIAN 'DIALOGUE' ON CRISIS APPROVES OPPOSITION
PROPOSAL. Participants attending a "dialogue" on the
country's political crisis chaired by President Emil
Constantinescu on 7 April accepted a proposal of the
opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania to set
up a Standing Consultative Council of experts to work
out Romania's medium and long-term range strategy of
development, and on the need to avoid defaulting on the
country's external debt, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau
reported. It was also agreed to set up a so-called
"Reflection Group" to "clarify the status of private
property" and its restitution. Apart from parliamentary
political parties from the coalition and the opposition,
participants included representatives of business, trade
unions, and civic organizations. Constantinescu said the
consensus reached was "historic," but the trade union
representatives said preparations for industrial action
planned for later this month will continue, since their
demands have not been met and "talking is no solution to
problems." MS
ROMANIA 'CAUTIOUS' ON BELGRADE'S UNILATERAL CEASE FIRE
DECLARATION. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Simona
Miculescu said on 7 April that Bucharest was "cautious"
over Belgrade's unilateral cease-fire declaration,
considering the "extensive depletion of the Albanian
population in Kosova and the political context in which
the declaration is being made," RFE/RL's Bucharest
bureau reported. Romanian media (as well as the media in
Bulgaria) report that the blocking of the Danube River
due to NATO's destruction of two bridges in Novi Sad is
causing extensive losses to shipping companies. Navrom
company Director Iordache Panaite told AFP that the
blockage has already cost his company $10 million and
that some 3,500 employees might soon be dismissed. Other
shipping companies estimate their monthly damages at
between $100,000-600,000, Mediafax reported. MS
TRANSDNIESTRIAN SUMMIT CANCELED. Moldovan presidential
spokesman Anatol Golea announced on 7 April that the
summit on the Transdniester conflict planned for the
next day in Kyiv has been canceled due to the illness of
Russian Premier Yevgenii Primakov, RFE/RL's Chisinau
bureau reported. Golea said he believed the meeting will
nonetheless be held soon, "maybe even in April." In
other news, Prime Minister Ion Sturza told journalists
on 7 April that his cabinet "needs a stability period"
at least until the end of 1999 and proposed organizing a
round table with the participation of President Petru
Lucinschi, political parties and the trade unions to
work out a program for overcoming the country's economic
crisis. Sturza said Moldova's GDP in 1999 may drop by 25
percent due to the loss of its traditional export
markets, in particular from the CIS and Romania. MS
UKRAINE, ROMANIA, CUT ENERGY DELIVERIES TO MOLDOVA.
Ukraine and Romania have suspended the supply of
electricity to Moldova because of Chisinau's mounting
debt. The move places the country on the verge of what
Anatol Saracuta, chief of the Moldovan state energy
company, called an "energy disaster." Chisinau owes
Romania about $9 million and Ukraine some $24 million,
RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. MS
BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT SURVIVES NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE. The
parliament on 7 April rejected by a 139-87 vote a no-
confidence motion submitted by the Socialist Party (BSP)
and supported by two other opposition groups, Reuters
reported. The BSP accused the cabinet of Premier Ivan
Kostov of failing to implement promises made when it
took power two years ago to work out a modern policy and
implement structural reforms in industry. Kostov
admitted that there has been a delay in the pace of the
reform but attributed it to last year's global financial
crisis. MS
SOFIA DEMANDS HALT OF YUGOSLAV MOBILIZATION OF ETHNIC
BULGARIANS. Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov on
7 April said that Yugoslavia was conducting "wholesale
mobilization" among the 50,000 ethnic Bulgarians from
eastern Serbia, including leaders of the minority, BTA
reported. Vlaikov said this was "an unfriendly act" and
that "the use of members of one minority against other
minorities benefits nobody." He also said that what is
needed in Yugoslavia is a "lasting, not an interim
solution," adding that "certain conditions should have
been met before the [unilateral] cease-fire" was
declared by Belgrade. Vlaikov echoed the conditions set
forth by NATO before the cease-fire should have been
called and air strikes can halt. MS
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